


The spark lights all the same

by iybms



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Kissing, M/M, POV Lance (Voltron), Rivals to Friends to Lovers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-17
Updated: 2020-06-17
Packaged: 2021-03-04 02:54:55
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,458
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24766531
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/iybms/pseuds/iybms
Summary: Lance's heart skips a beat the first time he sees Keith laugh, but he doesn't really understand why.
Relationships: Keith/Lance (Voltron)
Comments: 18
Kudos: 672





	The spark lights all the same

**Author's Note:**

> An exercise in writing Lance's POV.

Lance's heart skips a beat the first time he sees Keith laugh, but he doesn't really understand why.

He stares a little too long. He doesn't like Keith, and definitely not in any way that should warrant the fixation that this new expression on Keith's face is inspiring in him. So he does the same thing he does with every emotion he's not ready to confront: buries it until it's convenient. Which is pretty much never.

It's only unearthed, in fact, because Keith has this horrible, infuriating, even more inconvenient habit of laughing _at him_.

And it's just rare enough to see Keith laugh at all, that it gets more and more difficult for Lance to be pissed off by it. For him to stop from staring at the turn of the corner of his lips, the tilt of his mouth, the shape of his teeth, the pucker of his cheek on one side. Lance catches himself cataloging Keith's smiles in his mind like limited edition stamps.

Fuck, he realizes. They _are_ limited edition. One of these days, Lance is gonna strike out embarrassingly with a pretty girl, or collide with something in Blue while he's not paying attention, or get dissed by Pidge for opening his big mouth when he knows jack shit about math or coding, or, or― or _Hunk_ is going to make some lame cooking joke that doesn't even make any sense and Keith is going to laugh because _he_ doesn't make any sense, and then the Galra are going to attack, and that last laugh about goo donuts or whatever is going to be Keith Kogane's final, rare, stupid smirk.

Lance hates this. Why is he even thinking about this? He _hates_ this.

And the thing Lance hates the most is that sometimes he _thinks_ Keith is going to laugh at him, but for some completely inexplicable, bizarre reason, he doesn't. Instead, Keith listens to him. Keith supports him. Keith has his back.

Keith cradles Lance in his arms, carrying him to a healing pod. Keith rescues him from the airlock. Keith asks him what's wrong. Keith helps him up, over and over again, no matter how many times Lance gets knocked down. Keith pretends Lance isn't crying when he finds him homesick on the observation deck.

Lance is so frustrated, it's all he can do to just return the favor. Listen to Keith, support him, have his back. When Lance ends up as Keith's Red Paladin, it's like finding the most mortifying pair of shoes that fit absolutely perfectly. Not the way it felt perfect piloting Blue, how manifesting his intent had come easy. Rather, the Red Lion flays him open and strips him down. Exposes some deep, aching, desperate piece of him that he hadn't been ready to acknowledge until now. Flying the Red Lion at Keith's side feels less like a good fit than it feels necessary in some part of Lance's soul.

Blue felt like home; Red feels like some breathless, cosmic destiny.

He realizes one day, he's become friends with Keith. No wait, not just friends. More than that. Partners, somehow. More than just regular comrades, more than family. The bond he shares with Keith has become deeper than the bond he shares with any of the other paladins. Maybe even Allura, in Blue. He sort of resents that a little. But he also…

He also… really treasures it. Shit. He feels really, _really_ special. When Keith's eyes are focused on him like That, like they're equals, like Keith respects him as much as Lance respects Keith, because― because he _does_ , Lance respects Keith, and admires him, and has ever since the first time he saw him ace the simulator at the Garrison. But now, it's not just because Keith's a great pilot, or even because he's the Black Paladin. It's because he's lost so much and he still won't give up. Not on Shiro, or on his mom, or on Lance. After suffering so much loss and rejection from people who should have been there to take care of him, people he should have been able to trust, experiencing violent emotional severances that could have broken him irreparably,

Keith still stands tall as a leader, a soldier, and a symbol of hope to the weak and disadvantaged. He still fights for what he believes in with his whole, entire heart. Against all odds, he still finds ways to connect with and love the other members of their little paladin family.

Even when he has every excuse to be vindictive and bitter, and every opportunity to be vain and cruel, Keith is… he's… he's stubbornly determined to be kind, and altruistic, and forgiving.

And against all odds, Lance has come to ―

maybe ―

love that about him.

And annoyingly, the closer and closer Lance gets to Keith, the more he finds there is that he can't help but love.

So when Keith's eyes are focused on Lance, yeah, in training, or in a debrief, or on a mission, or just in a conversation or wherever, Lance has started to feel this little spark that lights up in his chest. Come at me, Keith might say. Or, Where to? Or, I'll lure them, you watch my back. Always with this unwavering trust in Lance that no one else has in him ― hell, that even Lance doesn't always have in himself. It doesn't matter if Keith is angry or teasing or bloody, or if he's dead bored in a diplomatic meeting just looking to Lance for silent commiseration. The spark lights all the same. It thrums under his skin, in his hands, all the way to his fingertips, like an extra little boost of adrenaline. It makes him feel extra connected to Keith, ready for anything. Even in the murkiest depths of self-doubt, Keith makes him feel like he can _do_ anything.

And then one day, he finally does it. It's been so long, he doesn't even realize that he's been trying, or how bad he wants it. How overwhelmed he's going to be when he gets it.

They're alone, walking a corridor in the ship. They're both exhausted, and Lance is just talking. They have a lot of shared experiences now, and plenty of common _opinions_ about particular missions and aliens and diplomatic policies, and Lance makes the driest inside joke. Absolutely arid. Ruthless. He is _so_ tired. Keith―

laughs.

Keith laughs, and Lance,

Lance is wide-eyed, mouth softly open, breath caught. His heart has skipped like four beats, at least, at finally being the one to make Keith Kogane laugh. Not _at him_ , no. Not this time. No, Lance made Keith laugh, because he meant to make Keith laugh. A joke that was meant for Keith and only Keith, exchanged for a laugh that was meant for Lance and only Lance. Something within Lance shudders shamefully with the selfish realization that he wants to _always_ get to be the one who makes Keith laugh. He wants to keep all of Keith's laughter and smiles to himself and hoard them deep in his heart, in the same place where he started cataloging Keith's smiles _years_ ago.

Keith's eyes glance open at him in mirth, and the electricity that ignites in Lance makes his whole body tense. For a moment while his gaze is locked with Keith's, it's all he can feel. Gooseflesh dances along his arms and the hair on his nape raises, and just as it seems Keith is about to prickle with concern, Lance can no longer stand still. He can't. He's possessed, by this fanatic need to be closer, to capture the remnants of Keith's laughter in the most intimate way possible.

All he can do is close the distance between them, take Keith's face gently between his trembling palms, and tilt in to kiss him.

He's half-drunk just on the closeness alone, but then Keith's lips soften, come to Lance's wet and open, and then again, over and over, and Lance thinks he must be entirely delirious. He quakes from the inside out, because there's no way this is really happening, right? There's no way he's actually kissing Keith, for real, kissing him deeply, all frantic and reverent like this. There's no way he's doing it _, and_ getting away with it _, and_ getting kissed back. That's just, statistically improbable, he thinks.

And yet, here is Keith's tongue, touching Lance's, and Keith's hands, grasping greedily at his waist, pressing him close. Lance chokes on a pleased noise at the sheer satisfaction of being wanted by Keith in return.

And when Keith huffs a little chuckle, bursting with awe, right up against and into Lance's mouth ― just like that, there is nothing else at all in the universe.


End file.
